Carla Barnett

Belizean economist and politician

Carla Barnett
Barnett in 2021

Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 August 2021
Preceded by	Irwin LaRocque

Personal details
Born	(1958-02-16) 16 February 1958 (age 66) Belize City, Belize

Carla Natalie Barnett (born 16 February 1958) is a Belizean economist and politician, currently serving as Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) since 2021.

Barnett is a former Deputy Speaker of the Senate and has held various ministerial positions in her country's government. She succeeds Irwin LaRocque, who served as Secretary-General from 2011 to 2021.

Early life and education

Barnett was born on 16 February 1958 in Belize City, Belize. She earned a Bachelor of Science in economics from the University of the West Indies (UWI) and a Master of Science in economics from the University of Western Ontario in Canada. In 1990 she received her doctorate in social sciences from the UWI Mona Campus in Jamaica.^[1]^[2]

Economic career

From 1989 to 1990, Barnett was an economist at the Caribbean Development Bank. She was appointed Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Belize in 1991, the first woman to do so; she held the position until 1996. In 1997, again as the first woman and the youngest person ever, she assumed the position of Deputy Secretary General of CARICOM.^[3] From 2004 to 2007, she was Belize's first Treasury Secretary. In 2012, Barnett worked again at the Caribbean Development Bank, where she was responsible for operations in a managerial position.^[4] She resigned from this position in 2014.^[5]

Political career

As a candidate for the United Democratic Party (UDP), Barnett first ran for a seat in the House of Representatives in the Freetown constituency in 2015,^[6] but lost to opposition leader Francis Fonseca. Nevertheless, she was appointed Vice President of Senate by Prime Minister Dean Barrow. On 30 August 2016, she became Minister of State for Finance and on 10 August 2017, she also took over the department for Natural Resources.^[7]^[8] As part of a cabinet reshuffle on 12 June 2018, she had to give up the powerful department for natural resources and instead took over the less important departments for labour, local administration and rural development.^[9]^[10]

Diplomatic career

As a consultant, Barnett has worked for a number of multilateral and bilateral organizations in the CARICOM region, including the Inter-American Development Bank, the Canadian International Development Agency (now Global Affairs Canada), the UK Department for International Development and the United Nations Development Programme.^[5]

In May 2021, Barnett was unanimously appointed Secretary-General by the heads of government of the Caribbean Community, the first woman to do so.^[11] She officially took office on 16 August 2021.^[12]

Views and other work

Barnett is a longtime advocate for gender equality "not only because it's the right thing to do to create a more stable and just society, but also because implementing equality means good economic policies."^[13] She is a member of the Caribbean Institute of Women in Leadership (CIWiL)[13] and was formerly President of the YWCA in Belize.^[14]

Awards

Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2005)^[14]

References

^ "History-making selection of first female Secretary-General hailed". CARICOM Today. 12 May 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
^ "Dr. Carla Natalie Barnett". CARICOM. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
^ "Belize and CARICOM Relationships". The San Pedro Sun. 13 February 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
^ "Dr. Carla Natalie Barnett". CARICOM. 4 June 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Executive announcement - Resignation: Dr. Carla Barnett". Caribbean Development Bank. 27 May 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
^ "Dr. Carla Barnett Endorsed as U.D.P. Freetown Candidate". Channel5Belize.com. 21 January 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
^ "Cabinet's Tweaks". 7newsbelize.com. 30 August 2016. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
^ "Belize's Cabinet undergoes reshuffling". The San Pedro Sun. 12 August 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
^ "PM Barrow reshuffles Cabinet". Amandala Newspaper. 16 June 2018. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
^ "Dr. Carla Barnett falls from grace?". Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com. 23 June 2018. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
^ "Dr. Carla Barnett, CARICOM Secretary General designate: The mammoth task ahead of her". CARICOM Today. 19 May 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
^ "Karibik-Bündnis Caricom erstmals mit Frau an der Spitze". amerika21. 24 August 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
^ "New CARICOM Secretary-General Dr. Carla Barnett, a Belizean, takes up office on Monday". Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com. 14 August 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Dr. Carla Natalie Barnett". CARICOM. Retrieved 10 January 2022.